Devil's Doorway

This early black-and-white Anthony Mann is a combination of atmospheric Western vistas and the ominous noir photography of John Alton. The love interest is a little dumb (a woman practicing law in Montana in the late 1860's?), but the themes of the ownership of land and the preservation of human dignity in the face of prejudice are very well handled. Robert Taylor in middle-age is always a bit wooden, but this actually helps him create the stoic character of Indian Lance Poole.

It's pretty easy to criticize this for Taylor in brownface, the other characters lacking depth and its ambivalent perspective, but Taylor gives the performance his all and underneath that ambivalent perspective is a rich peek into a complex subject often ignored in westerns, that the oppression of natives was a communal crime and not just a military one. It's not shy about airing some dirty laundry and following it to realistic conclusions, even if it sometimes takes pains to be nonjudgemental.

Much like Fuller's Run of the Arrow the red face cannot be forgiven but despite it it's a great movie and surprisingly nuanced. A movie that takes the side of the oppressed especially at that time is a rare thing(and to showcase the fruitless nature of being NDN in America). Good stuff

This movie showed some courage in its portrayal of bigotry and the use of law to enforce it. It's too bad they didn't have the courage to use a Native American actor in the lead.

Anthony Mann and Robert Taylor gives us a good insight how even the Cavalry loyal Indian was getting screwed by the white grifters of it's time, plotting and creating a narrative the Native American had no chance fighting. Sheer hopelessness, and Mann puts on the grim visuals to throw off a strong impression of the robbery.